Examines Finland's search for a national identity.

Finland has often been ignored or misunderstood by the English-speaking world and this work presents the reader with a readable and authoritative introduction to the life of the Finns and the position of their country in the modern world. The book explains how a small nation, placed in an unfavorable geopolitical situation, won its independence and eventually achieved a high material standard of living together with an enviable degree of social and political stability by adapting itself to the realities of life in an unpromising environment. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Examines Finland's search for a national identity.

An up-to-date political, social and economic history of Finland from medieval times to the present. David Kirby traces the evolution of Finland's distinctive identity and of the Finnish national state from the long centuries under Swedish rule, through self-government within the Russian Empire, to independence in the twentieth century.

This book explores the relationship between democracy and the economy in contemporary political thought and policy-making. Using the concepts of economic, industrial and enterprise democracy, the author focuses on the history of Finland and Sweden during the latter part of the twentieth century. The three concepts are discussed in relation to various political groups, such as social democrats, conservatives and liberals, and the reforms that they were associated with, painting a picture of changing economic thought in the Nordic countries, and the West more generally. Arguing that the concept of democracy has evolved from representative parliamentary democracy towards ‘participation’ in civil society, this book demonstrates how the ideal of individual freedom and choice has surpassed collective decision-making. These shared characteristics between Finland, Sweden and other Western countries challenge the view that the Nordic countries have been exceptional in resisting neoliberalism. In fact, as this book shows, neoliberalism has been influential to the Nordics since the 1970s. Offering an innovative and conceptual perspective on European political history, this book will appeal to scholars interested in Nordic political history and modern European history more generally.

By analysing the experience of Finland, Risto Alapuro shows how upheavals in powerful countries shape the internal politics of smaller countries. This linkage, a highly topical subject in the twenty-first century world, is concretely studied by putting the abortive Finnish revolution of 1917-18 into a long historical and a broad comparative perspective.

A concise history of Finland, from its part in the Swedish kingdom to autonomous nation state